Courtesy of Penguin Random House and Grand Central Publishing
The library is OPEN!
No, really, the library is open and libraries across the country need our support more than ever. One of the best ways to do this is to use their services, for example by checking out the new queer Books coming out next year!
If “read more” is one of your 2025 New Year’s resolutions, you’re in luck. 2025 is full of LGBTQ+ news. Whether it's favorite returning queer authors or one of the promising debuts, fiction or non-fiction, there are an abundance of queer books coming out next year that we can't wait to read about get your hands on it!
Here are the top 10 LGBTQ+ books we are most looking forward to reading in 2025.
“Murder in the Locker Room” by Holly Stars
Murder in the locker room is the debut novel by British comedian, writer and drag queen Holly Stars. When drag queen Lady Lady is found dead in her dressing room, her fellow performers all become prime suspects, including her own drag daughter, Misty Divine! As expected, the police weren't very helpful, so it's up to Misty to figure out who poisoned Lady and why before she strikes again.
Murder mysteries have an inherent element of campiness, so a drag racing murder mystery is honestly a no-brainer. I'm also a firm believer in judging a book by its cover, and if I haven't been sold before, the cover illustration by the immensely talented Roosa Mari makes this a must-have on any shelf.
Murder in the locker room releases January 14, 2025 from Berkley Books and is available for pre-order here.
“The Loves of My Life” by Edmund White
Lambda Literary Award-winning author Edmund White presents an honest and loving memoir spanning more than 60 years of gay love and sex. The Loves of My Life: A Sexual Memoir follows White across a vast range of times and places. It's a love letter to everything big and small, beautiful and ugly, about queer sex and the culture that surrounds it. It's also a fascinating insight into gay culture in America over the past 70 years. A true must-read from one of the great canons of American gay literature.
The Loves of My Life: A Sexual Memoir is released on January 28, 2025 by Bloomsbury Publishing and is available for pre-order here.
“Deer Dance” by Torrey Peters
By Torrey Peters, author of New York Times bestselling author of Detransition, babycomes its highly anticipated sequel, Deer dancea collection of a novel and three short stories.
Deer dancethe eponymous novel, follows a group of lumberjacks organizing a dance which some of them will attend as women. When the tallest, strongest and most modest man decides to accompany a woman, he finds himself in competition with one of the youngest and prettiest men, all competing against each other on the night of the big ball . Accompanying Deer Dance are three short stories: “Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones,” “The Chaser,” and “The Masker.”
Deer dance releases March 11, 2025 from Random House and is available for pre-order here.
“Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One” by Kristen Arnett
Personally, I've been actively excited about this one since September 2023. Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author of With teeth et Things mostly dead and the cool lesbian dad of the Internet. Arnett's work is a big part of why I wanted to become a writer, and I couldn't be more excited about his third novel, Stop me if you've heard this oneabout a down-on-her-luck lesbian clown and the connection she forms with a sexy older magician.
Things could be worse for Cherry Hendricks, but things could also be better. Cherry is a professional clown – and good at it too – but still has to take shifts at the aquarium to earn extra money. She also struggles to balance dating, relationships with fellow artists, and her judgmental mother. It's a lot to juggle, even for a clown. But everything changes when Cherry meets Margot the Magnificent, a sexy, older lesbian magician who seems to have it all figured out.
Stop me if you've heard this one releases March 18, 2025 from Riverhead Books and is available for pre-order here.
« Harriet Tubman : Live in Concert » de Bob the Drag Queen
From RuPaul's Dragster Race Season 8 winner and stand-up comedian Bob the Drag Queen presents his first novel, Harriet Tubman: and concert. The story is set in the modern United States, where history's greatest heroes have inexplicably returned, including Harriet Tubman. Tubman, along with four former slaves she helped free, decide to tell their story through a hip-hop album and an accompanying live performance. She calls on Darnell Williams, a hip hop producer who had great success before being unmasked. Together, they must find a way to confront a dark past in hopes of building a better future.
Harriet Tubman: and concert comes out on March 25, 2025 from Gallery Books and is available for pre-order here.
“Awake” by AE Osworth
AE Osworth's second novel, Awakeis full of things I love (trans people) fighting to save the world from things I hate (AI). It's another book that I've been excited about for the past month, from another author who has had a huge influence on me as a writer, with another cover that I can't stop looking at. 2025 is truly shaping up to be a boom year for books.
Awake follows Wilder, a thirty-something gay man from Brooklyn, who wakes up one morning and discovers that he now has the magical ability to understand all languages. They are then greeted by a group of trans witches, each with a unique magical ability. Just as Wilder finally begins to understand this whole magic thing, a malicious AI threatens the fate of the clan and the world. This ragtag group is the only one with any hope of stopping the AI before it's too late.
Awake will be released on April 29, 2025 by Grand Central Publishing and is available for pre-order here.
“The Emperor of Joy” by Ocean Vuong
Ocean Vuong is a literary genius, and in a real-life “I'd listen to Chapell Roan sing the phone book” situation, Vuong is one of those authors I'll read anything about. Prose or poetry, whatever the premise, I will take up anything he writes because it is always, without fail, an ineffably moving slice of the human experience. As a big fan of Vuong's work, I think his next novel, The Emperor of JoyThis might be my favorite yet.
In East Gladness, Connecticut, 19-year-old Hai stands on a bridge, ready to jump. He only stops when he hears the cries of Grazina, an elderly widow with dementia, from across the river. After stepping off the ledge, Hai quickly becomes Grazina's guardian, and the two form an intense bond that alters their lives.
The Emperor of Joy is released on May 13, 2025 by Penguin Press and is available for pre-order here.
« Marsha » par Tourmaline
Model, activist and leading Marsha P. Johnson scholar Tourmaline is finally compiling everything she's gathered about the trans trailblazer into one book, the first-ever comprehensive biography of Johnson. To find out more Marsha: The Joy and Challenge of Marsha P. Johnsonwe published an article in October featuring everything we know so far and an interview with Tourmaline about the project and why Johnson means so much to her personally.
Marsha: The Joy and Challenge of Marsha P. Johnson comes out on May 20, 2025 from Tiny Reparations Books and is available for pre-order here.
“Disappoint me” by Nicola Dinan
Nicola Dinan, author nominated for the Lambda Literary Award Belly (a personal favorite), returns for his second novel, Disappointed mefollowing the somewhat serious head trauma of a trans poet and the changes that this inspires in her. Max, a 30-year-old published poet who now works for a technology company, feels unfulfilled and disillusioned. After falling down the stairs at a New Year's Eve party and hitting her head, she decides there's no time like the present to drop everything and try to be a wife traditional for a change.
Max meets Vincent, a Chinese-American business lawyer with a passion for baking, and the two begin a romance the likes of which Max had only dreamed of experiencing. As idyllic as it may seem, the heteronormative American dream is not enough. Max and Vincent must still navigate the complexities of their pasts, their families, and cultural expectations around race and gender if they want their dreamlike love story to remain a reality.
Disappointed me releases May 27, 2025 from Dial Press and is available for pre-order here.
« Le projet Build-a-Boyfriend » par Mason Deaver
Mason Deaver, bestselling and award-winning author of young adult fiction, makes his adult fiction debut with a sappy, compelling, queer spin on faux dating romance. Le projet Build-a-Boyfriend follows Eli Francis and his work in an online magazine Ventwhere he would be a writer if his boss wasn't so determined to keep him stuck as an assistant. After Eli's boss hears about Eli's horrible date with handsome but socially awkward Peter Park, he suggests Eli teach Peter how to date and be a better boyfriend, all this so Eli can write an article about it.
Eli continues to take Peter on these pretend dates, but not to write the article he was assigned. He interviews Peter for a more in-depth article about growing up queer in the South, and Peter learns about coming of age for adult dating. But as Eli's interviews deepen, their connection grows, until he no longer knows how fake these dates are.
The Building a Better Boyfriend Project comes out August 5, 2025 from Avon Books and is available for pre-order here.
